


Tony

by dia_barnes



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Cheating, F/M, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Love, My First Fanfic, One Shot, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-01
Updated: 2018-02-01
Packaged: 2019-03-12 11:44:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13546644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dia_barnes/pseuds/dia_barnes
Summary: Tony never thought that he deserved love.





	Tony

**Author's Note:**

> Heyyyy. So this is the first fanfic that I've ever posted, and I am honestly pretty nervous. I've read fanfics for many years, and it's 2018 so new year, new me! I'm trying to take risks and try new things this year, so why not AO3 (lol that rhymed :P). 
> 
> Please leave your honest thoughts. Tbh, the harsher the better, that's the only way that I'll be able to improve. I've never shown my writing to anyone outside of an educational environment, sooooo.

Tony never thought that he deserved love.

Often, he thought that he repelled it. If his parents couldn’t love their own flesh and blood, then who could?

But that couldn’t be true, right? If Maria and Howard held no form of love towards him, he would have been neglected, abused, abandoned, forgotten. And to some degree, he was.

However, Tony didn’t want people to love him due to pity. Tony wanted to feel that all-encompassing love that they describe in the most romantic and heart-warming stories. He wanted love without pretence, love without guilt and sympathy and obligation. Tony wanted someone to love him because they wanted to.

And you know what? He had that.

Virginia ‘Pepper’ Potts was one of the greatest things to bless his life. She saw his inadequacies, and she accepted him. She saw the arrogance and ego and still, she accepted him. She witnessed when he went through one of the darkest periods of his life, and when he thought that he had no one to turn to - when he found out that the closest surviving parental figure he had betrayed him - she stayed. She stayed, and she _loved_.

Tony had never felt love like her love. He’d never understood the term _unconditional_ until Pepper showed him. She stood by him when he hated the world, when he hated _himself_.

But Tony wouldn’t be Tony without a little self-sabotage here and there, right? He always had to have what he’s not allowed. He always had to taste the forbidden fruit. And just like with Adam and Eve, God cursed him. God took away his ability to fall in love. Pepper was his last chance, and he blew it.

And when the day finally came where someone new fell in love with him, he knew they were lying, as Tony had grown out of childish fantasies and dreams and saw himself for what he truly was, _unlovable_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!


End file.
